Up and soaring

Northrop Grumman breaks ground on Grand Sky expansion

Northrop Grumman Corp. has begun constructing a 36,000ft² facility at Grand Sky Unmanned Aerial Systems’ (UAS) Business and Aviation Park at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The company has leased 10 acres of land and committed more than $10 million to this initial project.

The park’s anchor tenant, Northrop Grumman, will support UAS research and development, aircrew and maintenance training, operations and mission analysis, and aircraft maintenance in the region. The company is also exploring future construction.

Grand Sky is the second major Northrop Grumman facility in North Dakota. The company has a manufacturing site in New Town, which has been in continuous operation for 45 years. www.northropgrumman.com

FAA expands unmanned aircraft Pathfinder efforts

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has entered into a Pathfinder agreement with CACI International Inc. to evaluate how the company’s technology can help detect unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) flying near airports.

In testimony before the House Aviation Subcommittee, FAA Deputy Administrator Mike Whitaker said flying an unmanned aircraft near a busy airfield poses an unacceptable safety hazard. During the hearing, “Ensuring Aviation Safety in the Era of Unmanned Aircraft Systems,” Whitaker told the congressional panel the FAA signed an agreement to assess the safety and security capabilities of CACI’s product within a five-mile radius of airports.

The CACI partnership, part of the UAS Pathfinder program announced in May 2015, is a framework for the FAA to work closely with industry to explore the next steps in unmanned aircraft operations.

“We are looking forward to working with CACI and our interagency partners to identify and evaluate new technologies that could enhance safety for all users of the nation’s airspace,” says Whitaker.

CACI’s prototype UAS sensor detection system will be evaluated at airports selected by the FAA.

“The agreement provides a proven way to passively detect, identify, and track UAS and their ground-based operators, in order to protect airspace from inadvertent or unlawful misuse of drones near U.S. airports,” says John Mengucci, CACI’s COO and president of U.S. operations. http://goo.gl/cMCtpA; www.caci.com

SSCI awarded NAVAIR contract for MQ-8 Fire Scout landing system

Scientific Systems Co. Inc. (SSCI) has been awarded a U.S. Navy Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) contract to integrate and test an onboard, fully-autonomous, optically-based relative navigation system designed for integration into the U.S. Navy’s MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned helicopter (VT-UAV) shipboard auto-landing system.

SSCI’s image-based relative navigation for shipboard landing (ImageNav-SL) uses passive, electro-optical infrared sensors to detect and analyze existing ship deck markings and provide deck-relative navigation measurements. ImageNav-SL is designed to use low-power/low-weight, commercial cameras to meet MQ-8 accuracy requirements in visibility conditions similar to those required for manned helicopter operations without additional shipboard modifications or additional equipment. Under the contract, ImageNav-SL technology will be integrated onto representative MQ-8 equipment and flight-tested at sea to demonstrate shipboard landing capability. www.ssci.com

Canister-launched sUAS development to continue

Lockheed Martin was awarded a $4.6 million contract from the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO) for the continued development of a maritime canister-launched small unmanned aircraft system.

The company is working on a re-configurable version of the collapsible wing Vector Hawk aircraft that can be tube-launched from land or water.

Vector Hawk is capable of autonomous flight and landing, which shifts the operational focus from flying the aircraft to conducting the mission. The system also incorporates fail-safes to ensure it can safely return to the user or auto-land when situations such as loss of communications with the ground control station or low power occur. Vector Hawk is built with an open architecture to enable rapid technology and payload integration. www.lockheedmartin.com/suas

Task force to develop unmanned aircraft registration requirements

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta have created a task force to develop recommendations for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) registration.

“Registration will help operators know the rules and remain accountable to the public for flying their unmanned aircraft responsibly,” Foxx says. “It will help protect public safety in the air and on the ground.”

The task force, composed of 25 to 30 representatives from the UAS and manned aviation industries, the federal government, and other stakeholders, will advise on which aircraft should be exempt from registration due to a low safety risk, including toys and other small UAS. The task force will explore options for a streamlined system that would make registration less burdensome for commercial UAS operators.

Stakeholders include: the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, Academy of Model Aircraft, Air Line Pilots Association, American Association of Airport Executives, AirMap/Small UAV Coalition, and the Consumer Electronics Association.

Every day, the FAA receives reports of potentially unsafe UAS operations. Pilot sightings doubled between 2014 and 2015. The reports ranged from incidents at major sporting events and flights near manned aircraft, to interference with wildfire operations. www.faa.gov